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Johannesburg - Popcru vowed on Monday to challenge
unjustified dismissals of any of its members.

"We have... noted the action taken against some of
the officers who were deployed to protests, and hope the SA Police Service will
act procedurally in dealing with these cases," union spokesperson Theto
Mahlakoana said in a statement.

Mahlakoana said the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union
(Popcru) was saddened by the deaths of protesters in Mothutlung and Roodepoort.

The union found it unfortunate that the police had to
resort to extreme measures to bring protests under control.

Tshepo Babuseng, 28, was shot dead, allegedly by a
policeman, after protesting residents barricaded roads with stones and burning
tyres in Durban Deep, Roodepoort, on Thursday.

Four police officers were arrested on Friday for
allegedly shooting Babuseng.

On Monday, people were protesting outside the Roodepoort
Magistrate's Court ahead of the officers' appearance.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Friday that police
fired banned shotgun rounds during a service delivery protest in Mothutlung,
North West, in which four protesters were killed two weeks ago.

The SSG 12-gauge rounds, which contain pellets, were officially
discontinued by the SAPS in 2006, and were "not supposed to be used",
he told reporters in Pretoria.

Two of those who died in the protests over water
shortages on 13 January in Mothutlung were allegedly shot by the police, a
third died in a fall from a moving police vehicle according to police, and a
fourth person who was shot in the head died in hospital the next day.

Mthethwa said 14 police officers faced disciplinary
action in connection with events at that protest.

"Six are already suspended. Others are being served
with their suspension notices."

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